Improbable Comeback The Hackensack River used to be a great place to keep a boat-pollution
had killed the barnacles.Since the HMDC took over and the federal Clean Water Act was signed in 1972,
barnaclesand other aquaticanimalshave rebounded. Fewer than ten fish species lived in the river in
the sixties; more than 50 live there today. Crabbers(top left) arefinding more in their nets, but author
ities still advise againsteating the catch. Field biologistAndy Krivenko, in a Giants T-shirt (top right),
builds a bridge throughphragmites in preparationfor counting ducks (above right) and other birds and
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NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, FEBRUARY 2001